Was not my favorite episode, but I'm thinking that is partially because Im not used to watching it weekly with commercials.
In all though, I hope the rest of the season is less bizarre. I know we've dealt with monkey curses and other odd sex things, but what makes The League so great is the way that it seems really grounded. I felt like this episode was a bit too high on the "zany meter" to really be great.
Parts of that were funny when they weren't obvious (the assertive voice, stomping at him and going "no! no!") but it was too bizarre beyond that. My thought was that Kevin was on to what she was trying to do, and he and Pete decided to run a scam on her to see how long they could make her think she was training him. That would have been funnier IMHO, and much less bizarre. Pumpernickel! was a good sight gag, but again- bizarre. El Cuñado was used to great effect before but just seemed.. a little out there in this episode.
I will absolutely rave about the first two seasons, but this ep wasn't what I've come to love. Hopefully they'll go better places!
I like Seth Rogen, but the main cast is just too funny to screw around with celebrity guest spots. I'd rather that airtime be filled with a Taco song or just Andre being Andre.
I need to catch this week's episode when I get home tonight still, but as for last week's? I too would rather avoid the special guest stars like seth rogan from being on the show. I enjoy him, and the other stars they would likely bring on would be nice, but beyond appearances by football players I don't care for it and feel it decreases my enjoyment for some reason.
Raffi, I can only handle in small small doses, like only a few minutes in one episode per season would be good. Or never again even.
Also, Ruxin saying his wife came down with something and Jenny saying "Catholicism?" made me laugh, and when he called his wife's family a pack of conquistadors or whatever. I thought this episode was the funniest so far of the new season.
I always hear great things about this show. But then I watch it...and its just not very funny. Like I can tell it TRIES. Like, its style is right up my alley, but it just falls flat.
And then I dont understand the fantasy football portions. Because they would be boring to anyone who doesnt play, but they are too unrealistic to anyone who does.
Who would draft Michael Crabtree as their only WR? Who would draft multiple kickers? Who would make a trade that involved said kickers? Its just...not realistic. Are they ALL bad at fantasy football? Is that the point? I dont know...
I chuckled once or twice, but this show gets tons of hype from friends whos opinions are normally respect, yet it seems pretty horrible to me. Like what was up with the swastikas? Is there a joke there other then just "LOL Swastikas are totally not appropriate!"
The horrible players they got were auto drafted by their computer when they got locked out. This why they ended up with awful teams with multiple kickers and such.
Josh nailed my favorite lines of the night. "Catholicism?"
I always hear great things about this show. But then I watch it...and its just not very funny. Like I can tell it TRIES. Like, its style is right up my alley, but it just falls flat.
And then I dont understand the fantasy football portions. Because they would be boring to anyone who doesnt play, but they are too unrealistic to anyone who does.
Who would draft Michael Crabtree as their only WR? Who would draft multiple kickers? Who would make a trade that involved said kickers? Its just...not realistic. Are they ALL bad at fantasy football? Is that the point? I dont know...
I chuckled once or twice, but this show gets tons of hype from friends whos opinions are normally respect, yet it seems pretty horrible to me. Like what was up with the swastikas? Is there a joke there other then just "LOL Swastikas are totally not appropriate!"
First of all, you should watch the seasons in order because the guys making fun of each other(and mostly Andre) is part of what makes it so great. It is hilarious. Not to mention stuff like them having bad team came from the auto draft they got stuck with when they locked themselves out of Andre's apartment while having a porno filmed there to punish him for placing last in the league the season before.
As for the swastikas, you must not have been watching the episode very closely if you didn't get it. It was self-contained within this one episode. They mentioned kids were always doing graffiti around Taco's apartment and the city had to come clean it up. Ruxin sprayed a swastika outside his house next to a pothole so the city would come fix it. Later, Kevin did a swastika on the bench so the city would clean it up and please his wife.
It takes the mildest bit of reading between the lines, but Ruxin sprayed a swastika because he's jewish and it makes it look like a hateful act done outside his house by someone anti-semitic. Kevin did the same thing because he's not clever enough to think of anything better and he had just seen Ruxin do the swastika. Voila.
They mentioned kids were always doing graffiti around Taco's apartment and the city had to come clean it up. Ruxin sprayed a swastika outside his house next to a pothole so the city would come fix it. Later, Kevin did a swastika on the bench so the city would clean it up and please his wife.
Ah, somehow I must have missed the explanation about the city coming to clean it. Must have been in the very start of the episode. I also didnt know they had gotten locked out of the draft (though from my experience, folks who auto-draft tend to have awesome teams...) That really does fix some of the major "this show blows" issues I had.
The first season is on netflix, so perhaps Ill watch it to give it a proper chance. I just know I watched the first episode and thought it was pretty terrible. That "Taco" guy was singing some horribly inappropriate song to a child, and it wasnt funny and it was far too dumb a move to be believable. It also wasnt believable that nobody would be like "hey, stop singing about banging to my small child, ok?"
Still, I enjoy all the guys in the show as comics, I enjoy the conversational "Sunny-esque" type humor, and I enjoy fantasy football...so it really makes no sense that I cant enjoy this show.
I laughed my ass off at Taco singing the birthday song to Ellie in the first episode, but that's just me. He's Kevin's brother, so he and his wife are just used to his hijinks. The first season is only 6 episodes, and I'd watch them on netflix, because you'll know if you like it by the end of those 6 for sure. It's hit and miss sometimes, but usually each episode has at least a few funny moments, and some of them are downright crazy hilarious.
I always hear great things about this show. But then I watch it...and its just not very funny. Like I can tell it TRIES. Like, its style is right up my alley, but it just falls flat.
And then I dont understand the fantasy football portions. Because they would be boring to anyone who doesnt play, but they are too unrealistic to anyone who does.
Who would draft Michael Crabtree as their only WR? Who would draft multiple kickers? Who would make a trade that involved said kickers? Its just...not realistic. Are they ALL bad at fantasy football? Is that the point? I dont know...
I chuckled once or twice, but this show gets tons of hype from friends whos opinions are normally respect, yet it seems pretty horrible to me. Like what was up with the swastikas? Is there a joke there other then just "LOL Swastikas are totally not appropriate!"
First of all, you should watch the seasons in order because the guys making fun of each other(and mostly Andre) is part of what makes it so great. It is hilarious. Not to mention stuff like them having bad team came from the auto draft they got stuck with when they locked themselves out of Andre's apartment while having a porno filmed there to punish him for placing last in the league the season before.
As for the swastikas, you must not have been watching the episode very closely if you didn't get it. It was self-contained within this one episode. They mentioned kids were always doing graffiti around Taco's apartment and the city had to come clean it up. Ruxin sprayed a swastika outside his house next to a pothole so the city would come fix it. Later, Kevin did a swastika on the bench so the city would clean it up and please his wife.
It takes the mildest bit of reading between the lines, but Ruxin sprayed a swastika because he's jewish and it makes it look like a hateful act done outside his house by someone anti-semitic. Kevin did the same thing because he's not clever enough to think of anything better and he had just seen Ruxin do the swastika. Voila.
IIRC they mention something about the city having passed a law that requires them to clean up racist graffiti quicker than they would normally respond to other low-level cosmetic problems. Ruxin says he's been calling the city for months to get his pothole fixed with no response. But when he paints the swastika it activates the anti-hate-graffiti law and the city responds immediately.
As for the fantasy football stuff being unrealistic -
Remember that they're in a very small league, so trading a guy Michael Crabtree for a kicker is not all that unrealistic, if it's a high-tier kicker. The smaller the league, the less valuable marginal performers like Crabtree are, and the more valuable elite performers are at any position. I think they have an 8-team league on The League, and in a league that size you should be able to find Crabtree-level performers on the waiver wire.
Things I learned from this page. You might want to consider watching previous episodes of a show in its 3rd season, or pay attention to early parts of an episode so the rest makes sense.
I have to admit that I also didn't catch the swastika setup in the earlier part of the episode because I was too busy imagining a dragon with a chainsaw penis for it to sink in.
Like was the dragon rampant, or just the chainsaw penis. Also was it an oriental-type dragon? And was the chainsaw one of the big backed ones for woodcutting, or more one of those long skinny trimmers misdescribed.
And it's not a six person league. They always refer to the out of towners.
I said 8-teams, not 6. Crabtree is arguably waiver wire material in an 8-team league, unless it has really big roster sizes. In an 8-team league, I'd rather have an elite K, like Jason Hanson, than Crabtree.
I laughed my ass off at Taco singing the birthday song to Ellie in the first episode, but that's just me. He's Kevin's brother, so he and his wife are just used to his hijinks. The first season is only 6 episodes, and I'd watch them on netflix, because you'll know if you like it by the end of those 6 for sure. It's hit and miss sometimes, but usually each episode has at least a few funny moments, and some of them are downright crazy hilarious.
I think I was crying I was laughing so hard when he sang that song.
Things I learned from this page. You might want to consider watching previous episodes of a show in its 3rd season, or pay attention to early parts of an episode so the rest makes sense.
Weird.
Or a show should do a better job setting up its jokes? I never DIDNT pay attention to the episode, and somehow missed that whole thing. So...yeah, im putting that on the show.
And this show doesnt exactly seem like its Arrested Develpment where I have to watch every episode to follow. Seems like most of the humor was right there in front of me. I dont need to have a history of folks making fun of each other to understand when they are making fun of each other...
Though I don't understand how the episode's plot was hard to follow (I'm not going to lie, I watched it wasted and thought it was totally understandable), I will say that after trying to get as many people as I can into this show after falling in love with season one and two, they better pick this shit up quick because Season 3 has been a stinker so far.
Stop getting up to "crazy" shit and start talking about football like you did for two seasons. If it aint broke... comes to mind.
I imagine if one were to tune into The League looking for a show about a group of friends in a fantasy football league one's reaction would be somewhere between aghast and horrified.
Part of the appeal of this show is how little they talk about football.
But the focus of the show is still their fantasy football league. Setpieces are always them at the bar talking about the matchups, them at someone's home or somewhere watching the games. Them getting ready for the big blowout draft day.
The characters were always likable and believable because any bizarre or weird occurrences happened within their own little group. Now it seems we're heading into the Seinfeld/Always Sunny direction of "these people are heinous and we're going to put them in situations with outsiders to juxtapose how crazy and awful they are".
The first two episodes just don't seem like The League.
They've been horrible people from day one. They abuse Andre but put up with him because he's rich, treat unattractive people terribly, lie to their spouses, use anyone they can to get what they want, etc., etc. They're caricatures, sure, but of traits that can be found in normal well-off young adults.
Yes, the football / fantasy football stuff is there in the background, but it's not the focus of the show and they'd do well to keep in the background. The bits they've had before have been funny (Rafi / Ochocinco, Ruxin in the spa with whoever) because there hasn't been any need to know anything about football. Contrast that with the bit in the season opener with the random lineup of footballers. It was obnoxious, unnecessary, and completely meaningless for someone that doesn't know anything about football.
They've been horrible people from day one. They abuse Andre, treat unattractive people terribly, lie to their spouses, use anyone they can to get what they want, etc., etc. They're caricatures, sure, but of traits that can be found en normal well-off young adults.
The football / fantasy football stuff is there in the background, but it's not the focus of the show and they'd do well to keep in the background. The bits they've had before have been funny (Rafi / Ochocinco, Ruxin in the spa with whoever) because there hasn't been any need to know anything about football. Contrast that with the bit in the season opener with the random lineup of footballers. It was obnoxious, unnecessary, and completely meaningless for someone that doesn't know anything about football.
I agree with you there, and the elevation to mustache-twirlingly and bizarrely awful this season hasn't sat well with me. The characters lose a lot if the leave the realm of likability and more importantly, plausibility.
They've been horrible from day one but there's a difference between them treating Andre like shit and Ellie's teacher finding out they curse than having a potential teacher for Ruxin's kid think they are nazis because they're spraypainting swastikas all over the place. It just reaches an absurd level that I'm really not digging.
And also, you're missing my point, re: fantasy football. I'm not saying I want the show to be dominated by talk about fantasy football. But hilarious episodes and concepts like: The Game, Trade Raping, Kevin being a rankings slave, the vegas trip, shiva, etc, etc etc all come from the baseline fact that they are all part of a fantasy football league they care VERY much about. THAT is what I feel the show is missing. And that is what I hope they don't lose sight of in exchange for over the top comedy setpieces.
Also as a side-note the whole concept behind the league and the eight way trade this year is incredibly frustrating because as a first time fantasy football commissioner if that ever happens you can simply reset your draft. For a show that has actually been pretty accurate when they do talk about fantasy football, its bizarre to hinge an entire season's worth of situations on something that just doesn't exist.
I'm not trying to be antagonistic or a dick, but I'm just really surprised at how bad the first two episodes have been, and am trying to put my finger on why that is. Even the worst episodes of season 1 and 2 are miles ahead of what we've seen so far this season.
I guess they did a good job of balancing things in the first two seasons, because as soon as the show seems to me like it's "about" fantasy football I'll stop watching it. I'd be hard pressed to think of a less interesting concept for a show.
They explained the reason they couldn't redo the draft. If they try and back out of their lie and "redo" the draft Ruxin will deduce that they lied to him. They buried themselves in a hole with their terrible autodraft picks.
Edit- And I don't remember the exact sequence of events, but they couldn't admit to Andre that they autodrafted because they were keeping the apartment shoot under wraps, though that's obviously out of the bag now.
Edit edit- I also thought it was dumb that they made Andre out to be a fool during the autodraft sequence. I would have enjoyed it a lot more if he'd realized what was going on and capitalized on it.
Posts
In all though, I hope the rest of the season is less bizarre. I know we've dealt with monkey curses and other odd sex things, but what makes The League so great is the way that it seems really grounded. I felt like this episode was a bit too high on the "zany meter" to really be great.
But the cold open was fucking amazing.
If I wanted Always Sunny I would've watched Always Sunny (and I did!)
I will absolutely rave about the first two seasons, but this ep wasn't what I've come to love. Hopefully they'll go better places!
I like Seth Rogen, but the main cast is just too funny to screw around with celebrity guest spots. I'd rather that airtime be filled with a Taco song or just Andre being Andre.
Almost Sunny can pull that stuff off. The League can't. I don't care what they do if it is funny.
― Marcus Aurelius
Path of Exile: themightypuck
I enjoyed this episode better than last week's
Raffi, I can only handle in small small doses, like only a few minutes in one episode per season would be good. Or never again even.
"He's like a worthless good will hunting."
Also, Ruxin saying his wife came down with something and Jenny saying "Catholicism?" made me laugh, and when he called his wife's family a pack of conquistadors or whatever. I thought this episode was the funniest so far of the new season.
And then I dont understand the fantasy football portions. Because they would be boring to anyone who doesnt play, but they are too unrealistic to anyone who does.
Who would draft Michael Crabtree as their only WR? Who would draft multiple kickers? Who would make a trade that involved said kickers? Its just...not realistic. Are they ALL bad at fantasy football? Is that the point? I dont know...
I chuckled once or twice, but this show gets tons of hype from friends whos opinions are normally respect, yet it seems pretty horrible to me. Like what was up with the swastikas? Is there a joke there other then just "LOL Swastikas are totally not appropriate!"
Josh nailed my favorite lines of the night. "Catholicism?"
First of all, you should watch the seasons in order because the guys making fun of each other(and mostly Andre) is part of what makes it so great. It is hilarious. Not to mention stuff like them having bad team came from the auto draft they got stuck with when they locked themselves out of Andre's apartment while having a porno filmed there to punish him for placing last in the league the season before.
As for the swastikas, you must not have been watching the episode very closely if you didn't get it. It was self-contained within this one episode. They mentioned kids were always doing graffiti around Taco's apartment and the city had to come clean it up. Ruxin sprayed a swastika outside his house next to a pothole so the city would come fix it. Later, Kevin did a swastika on the bench so the city would clean it up and please his wife.
It takes the mildest bit of reading between the lines, but Ruxin sprayed a swastika because he's jewish and it makes it look like a hateful act done outside his house by someone anti-semitic. Kevin did the same thing because he's not clever enough to think of anything better and he had just seen Ruxin do the swastika. Voila.
Ah, somehow I must have missed the explanation about the city coming to clean it. Must have been in the very start of the episode. I also didnt know they had gotten locked out of the draft (though from my experience, folks who auto-draft tend to have awesome teams...) That really does fix some of the major "this show blows" issues I had.
The first season is on netflix, so perhaps Ill watch it to give it a proper chance. I just know I watched the first episode and thought it was pretty terrible. That "Taco" guy was singing some horribly inappropriate song to a child, and it wasnt funny and it was far too dumb a move to be believable. It also wasnt believable that nobody would be like "hey, stop singing about banging to my small child, ok?"
Still, I enjoy all the guys in the show as comics, I enjoy the conversational "Sunny-esque" type humor, and I enjoy fantasy football...so it really makes no sense that I cant enjoy this show.
Then I never watched it.
Until this last summer. And I laughed my ass off. I feel like this season's getting off to a rough start, though.
IIRC they mention something about the city having passed a law that requires them to clean up racist graffiti quicker than they would normally respond to other low-level cosmetic problems. Ruxin says he's been calling the city for months to get his pothole fixed with no response. But when he paints the swastika it activates the anti-hate-graffiti law and the city responds immediately.
As for the fantasy football stuff being unrealistic -
Remember that they're in a very small league, so trading a guy Michael Crabtree for a kicker is not all that unrealistic, if it's a high-tier kicker. The smaller the league, the less valuable marginal performers like Crabtree are, and the more valuable elite performers are at any position. I think they have an 8-team league on The League, and in a league that size you should be able to find Crabtree-level performers on the waiver wire.
Weird.
Like was the dragon rampant, or just the chainsaw penis. Also was it an oriental-type dragon? And was the chainsaw one of the big backed ones for woodcutting, or more one of those long skinny trimmers misdescribed.
"... suckhot party."
"Coke party?"
Better than the first episode, but we're still not up to Ghost Monkey or Bathroom Cubby levels here.
I said 8-teams, not 6. Crabtree is arguably waiver wire material in an 8-team league, unless it has really big roster sizes. In an 8-team league, I'd rather have an elite K, like Jason Hanson, than Crabtree.
I think I was crying I was laughing so hard when he sang that song.
Or a show should do a better job setting up its jokes? I never DIDNT pay attention to the episode, and somehow missed that whole thing. So...yeah, im putting that on the show.
And this show doesnt exactly seem like its Arrested Develpment where I have to watch every episode to follow. Seems like most of the humor was right there in front of me. I dont need to have a history of folks making fun of each other to understand when they are making fun of each other...
Stop getting up to "crazy" shit and start talking about football like you did for two seasons. If it aint broke... comes to mind.
I do agree that this season is lacking so far. It's funny enough, I'm still watching, but you won't win any new fans with this crap.
I disagree that the show ever had much of anything to do with football, though.
But the focus of the show is still their fantasy football league. Setpieces are always them at the bar talking about the matchups, them at someone's home or somewhere watching the games. Them getting ready for the big blowout draft day.
The characters were always likable and believable because any bizarre or weird occurrences happened within their own little group. Now it seems we're heading into the Seinfeld/Always Sunny direction of "these people are heinous and we're going to put them in situations with outsiders to juxtapose how crazy and awful they are".
The first two episodes just don't seem like The League.
Yes, the football / fantasy football stuff is there in the background, but it's not the focus of the show and they'd do well to keep in the background. The bits they've had before have been funny (Rafi / Ochocinco, Ruxin in the spa with whoever) because there hasn't been any need to know anything about football. Contrast that with the bit in the season opener with the random lineup of footballers. It was obnoxious, unnecessary, and completely meaningless for someone that doesn't know anything about football.
I agree with you there, and the elevation to mustache-twirlingly and bizarrely awful this season hasn't sat well with me. The characters lose a lot if the leave the realm of likability and more importantly, plausibility.
They've been horrible from day one but there's a difference between them treating Andre like shit and Ellie's teacher finding out they curse than having a potential teacher for Ruxin's kid think they are nazis because they're spraypainting swastikas all over the place. It just reaches an absurd level that I'm really not digging.
And also, you're missing my point, re: fantasy football. I'm not saying I want the show to be dominated by talk about fantasy football. But hilarious episodes and concepts like: The Game, Trade Raping, Kevin being a rankings slave, the vegas trip, shiva, etc, etc etc all come from the baseline fact that they are all part of a fantasy football league they care VERY much about. THAT is what I feel the show is missing. And that is what I hope they don't lose sight of in exchange for over the top comedy setpieces.
Also as a side-note the whole concept behind the league and the eight way trade this year is incredibly frustrating because as a first time fantasy football commissioner if that ever happens you can simply reset your draft. For a show that has actually been pretty accurate when they do talk about fantasy football, its bizarre to hinge an entire season's worth of situations on something that just doesn't exist.
I'm not trying to be antagonistic or a dick, but I'm just really surprised at how bad the first two episodes have been, and am trying to put my finger on why that is. Even the worst episodes of season 1 and 2 are miles ahead of what we've seen so far this season.
They explained the reason they couldn't redo the draft. If they try and back out of their lie and "redo" the draft Ruxin will deduce that they lied to him. They buried themselves in a hole with their terrible autodraft picks.
Edit- And I don't remember the exact sequence of events, but they couldn't admit to Andre that they autodrafted because they were keeping the apartment shoot under wraps, though that's obviously out of the bag now.
Edit edit- I also thought it was dumb that they made Andre out to be a fool during the autodraft sequence. I would have enjoyed it a lot more if he'd realized what was going on and capitalized on it.
He's ready to rock!
Crackers on the table
and some Jelly tooooooo!
seems like a good example of how they can actually incorporate fantasy football and have it be seamless
maybe i'm streaming terrible dj right now if i am its here
yay